wisconsinbride2010

Quote: Originally Posted by AlisonJimmy Was there someone going to play the slideshow or you had to actually set it up and do it all yourself? Our plan was just to bring our laptop from home and hook it up to the projector and speaker system they had there. My wedding planner here said she saw a presentation on the pool deck set up just like that when she went there. But who knows. It seems like Ana just kinda throws out numbers when to comes to pricing sometimes. Since it seems like we all get different answers from her I wish there was one concrete answer to all our questions....

Quote: Originally Posted by allegraapple I am planning on doing a slideshow (although I guess that means I actually have to gather up some pictures and find someone to help me put it all together!!). Anyway - we are using DJ Doremixx for this and prices are as follows: Tripod screen: $50 US Video and data projector: $200 US I think the resort can do it also (there is a screen and projector in Desires night club that I think you can use). Ana's prices are the same, I believe - but not sure about if she arranges for someone to help play the slideshow. We are going to do this the night before our wedding. I e-mailed Ana about a slide show for our wedding in October and she told us it was $500 USD and we were only allowed to use their equipment. So we decided not to since it was super overpriced for only 10 minutes of actually using the equipment. Maybe things have changed, I'm not sure but that is what she quoted me. Hopefully it did change

Quote: Originally Posted by reaganlane WOW! 14 years...thats a long time. Me and my fiance have been together for 6. I'm so excited for the wedding! I've just got a small group going with me so our wedding won't be anything fancy...just me and him on the beach just the way I want it! We're having a large AHR when we get back so that will be alot of fun. I'm doing my TTD session on the 28th so I'll be in the ocean and pool FUN! FUN! Are you having a beach or gazebo wedding? Our wedding is at 4 also...I hope it is somewhat on time because I have Claudia as my photographer and only have her for 3 hours so I really wanna get pics afterwards on the beach! What are you doing for decor for the wedding? We are having a beach wedding. My fiance really wanted a beach wedding. I also have Claudia as my photographer!! We are planning on having the white satin chairs on the beach, with alternating orange and pink sashes. I am going to put orchids on the back of the chairs (kinda where the bows tie). I sent Ana a picture of the exact setup I wanted and she said she could do it. I also wanted flowers in the sand on the beach and then a pink and orange decor for the four post thingy they put in on the beach. We are having 39 people coming with us so it isn't too huge but not tiny either. I haven't decided anything for the tables for dinner yet though. I am still thinking of what to do for that. I want something really elegant. I think I will do hurricane vases with flowers and candles in them. Something simple but pretty. The price of our wedding just keeps going up... We are not doing anything once we get home so this will be it for us. What are you doing??

I was wondering if anyone has info on the wedding cakes? I e-mail Ana about it and she just sent me slideshows of other brides weddings and told me to look in those pictures for what they have to offer. I just wondering how detailed their cakes were?? and are we allowed to bring in a picture of a cake we like and how closely they can replicate it? Thanks

Quote: Originally Posted by reaganlane Hey girl! Our wedding is Oct 26th. What time is your ceremony starting? Also, what are your wedding colors? Our ceremony is beginning at 4pm, but from what I heard it never begins on time. Which will probably irritate me just a bit I am a very punctual person and things not going on time kinda frustrate me. but oh well OUr wedding colors I think are the same as yours pink and orange. OUr guys are wearing ivory and chocolate. I am getting so nervous with it only being 3 months away, but the sad thing is it will all be over in 3 months and a week So I'm trying my best to keep that in perspective. My fiance and I have been dating for 14 years so I've waited a LONG time to plan a wedding!!

Quote: Originally Posted by rdsjcr 3 months tomorrow- and I am all of a sudden starting to freak out-- I feel like I have so many things to do!! Do you girls know if our reception HAS to be 3 hours? What if we want to add an hour? Anyone doing that? Anyone getting married in Oct- what time is your ceremony/reception? Thanks Robyn We are getting married Oct. 28th. Our ceremony is at 4pm and then I was planning on the cocktail hour at 5ish and dinner at 6ish and then a DJ from 7-10ish. I think with the DJ your reception has to be 3 hours since that is the minimum they make you pay. I know sunset is around 6:20, I found that on a website. I am also freaking out. We leave 3 months from today! I am excited but also just want to know what everything will look like and that it is exactly what I wanted. I think that planning a destination wedding has to be ALOT more stressful than a local wedding, since we have no idea what we are getting into!! See you in 3 months :-)

Quote: Originally Posted by MaR Hello ladies! I know you love pictures... so here is my wedding slideshow. We got married on July 4th and it was amazing! Ana was great, she works really hard to please you, so dont worry! everything will be taken care of once you get there... 04072010DRERC_SYED - SYED MaR you wedding was absolutely beautiful! Thanks for sharing your pictures!! It makes me more at ease and excited about having our wedding in October

Quote: Originally Posted by aj42781 What kind of rooms is everyone booking?? I dont even see an option for a honeymoon suite..anyone have a pricing on it? I cant decide between a plunge pool or a jacuzzi...when i look at the jacuzzi it looks like there is no wall between rooms so doesnt seem to private...same with plunge pool but alteast plunge pool isnt an intimate as a jacuzzi whats everyone else doing We are getting the preferred ocean view room. Our travel agent told us that we will most likely get an upgrade. We have 42 people coming so we will get two rooms upgraded. I wanted something a little more extra then just the basic room, but I didn't want to spend a whole lot of money on it either.

Quote: Originally Posted by ebernard4985 Just a note... we used their overlays, but honestly, they did not really fit the tables. The tables are all circular and the overlays are all squared... so they looked a bit odd. The overlay on our sweetheart table was too large! Not sure what size they were but the tables sat 8 comfortably and I think they were standard sized banquet tables. You had a very beautiful set up! I can't wait to see more pictures of you wedding! Thanks for posting pictures! Did you bring your own certerpieces (the glass vases with the flower and candle) of was that what Ana had provided for you?

Quote: Originally Posted by AlisonJimmy If anyone is getting the ultimate package, have you heard anything about getting the groom a free room the night before the wedding. The hotel told my TA this would have to be decided closer to the wedding. But that is crazy. Is anyone else having this issue? My wedding planner told us the same thing. It is based on availability that night.

Thanks for the great review! We are flying out of chicago also and went through AppleVacations. So I'm glad to hear everything turned out perfect! Can't wait to see the pictures!

Quote: Originally Posted by LeydiBug Hi. Would you mind emailing the script to me? Thanks! Leydi No problem. If you could give me your email i will send it right away!

I just wanted to let everyone know that Ana e-mailed me today with the ceremony script. I can't download it though cause it's too big. let me know if anyone would like it! This is just the outline. I actually have the complete cermony ceremony #1.doc

Quote: Originally Posted by SDbeachgirl I also wanted to meet with the officiant, but she told me that she didn't usually meet with the bride and groom prior to the wedding. I had her contact info and we exchanged emails. She actually said that she would be at the resort the night before for a wedding and we could have met then. However, I was busy with my catamaran trip. So I didn't even see her until I walked down the aisle. It was ok, but I would have liked to have met her first. I put together our script but she also had a script that we could have used if I prefered. Do you know who your officiant is? If it is Rosa, I have her script and can probably share it with you. Thanks for responding. I am not sure who is doing our ceremony. I will e-mail Ana and see if she knows. How long did you ceremony last? Where did you get your ideas for the ceremony? Thanks so much!!

A question for anyone who has already been married at Dreams. We are doing a symbolic ceremony, but none of our guests are aware that we are getting married in the States legally first. Did you have to write out your whole ceremony? If not was it very personalized? We are planning on writing out our own vows but I just want it to be personalized also. I asked Ana if we could meet the person who would be officating our ceremony a few days before but she told me no. We can't meet them until the wedding day. Just wondering how this went for everyone else? Thanks

Quote: Originally Posted by SDbeachgirl I wanted to post the photo album that I created on Shutterfly from the photos that my guests took. These are not the professional photos. I am still waiting on those. Please keep in mind that there are a few photos that were taken with a disposable camera (probably a bad idea) but those look really dark. The cocktail hour and reception were not as dark as they look in these photos. I think the professional photos will come out lighter. Shutterfly | View share I absolutely love your wedding photos! It looks like you had a perfect wedding! Thanks for sharing!!

Quote: Originally Posted by JD Hall Wedding Is there anyway you can send me the info you got the sanddollars and how you put the name on it [email protected] I just ordered the sand dollars on Friday so when I get them finished I will send you a picture. There are a few websites though that gave me the idea. Photos : Wedding Details : Seating Cards This the one that I liked the most. I will let you know how it works out. I am assuming that if I use a fine tip Sharpe marker that should work fine.

Quote: Originally Posted by jstock311 I'm getting ready to order my invitations soon but I just thought of something. Do I need place cards? Anyone else doing them or did you just let everyone sit where they wanted to for the reception? Thanks! we have about 45 people coming. I decided to use sanddollars with our guests name written on them. I thought it was a simple beachy touch. We are going to have them in a box filled with sand and just have them propped up so each guest can choose their name and put it at whichever seat they would to sit at. We are having our own table for just the two of us though.

Quote: Originally Posted by Ashly Mitchell Hi Ladies, My wedding was over Memorial Day weekend. I stressed like everyone else on these boards for months. But PLEASE take my advice and remember that a destination wedding is supposed to be stress-free. My wedding was absolutely perfect - thanks to Ana and Dreams - so if you aren't getting emails back from Ana... chill out... as long as your date is confirmed, you show up, meet with Ana, plan everything you want, and have a wonderful wedding. They literally have weddings every single day. It was the best week of my life and I have the most beautiful photos and memories! PHOTOS Link to amateur photos: http://jonandashlywedding.shutterfly.com/ The album called "Welcome Party" was taken by the professional photographer called Aventure Photo provided by the resort as part of my package. (I wanted to use a different photographer for wedding so I utilized the one included on a different night). REVIEW We arrived at Dreams one week in advance of our wedding. We had 60 guests and choose the Ultimate Wedding Package (then added on per person for the additional guests over 20). We met with Ana on Sunday one week before. She walked through the property and pointed out locations to have our ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception. We choose to have ceremony at 6pm at the gazebo (so I could wear heels). Other option was beach. We had the 1 hr cocktail reception at 7pm-8pm in a garden/grass area near the beach restaurants. Other options were beach, restaurants, patio around pool. We had the reception at 8pm-11pm on the wood patio between the beach and the infinity pool, this allowed for the most private reception as this area is separated from the regular pool deck. The best thing about arriving early is spying on other weddings so you can note what you like and don't like. Working with Ana on-site was great! She was always on call to answer our questions and we negotiated to get everything we wanted. Ask for low prices, everything is negotiable! We planned a rehearsal for the day before. She walked through the ceremony with us. I instructed my wedding party when to walk with who and where we were taking photos, etc. For the ceremony, I asked Ana in advance for the officiants contact info. Over email, we discussed the format for the non religious ceremony and included the sand unity ceremony. She also gave two options for a reading/poem that she recited. Perfect!! For ceremony music, we brought an iPOD with ceremony songs and dance songs in playlists. There is a technician who runs the music for the ceremony. Ana gave him the instructions. Music for ceremony was perfect! On the day of, I schedule my 5 bridesmaids and 2 mothers to have their hair done in the salon. I emailed the salon to schedule this. They did three girls at a time. The hairstyles were beautiful!!! Absolutely fantastic. And my hair and make-up was so amazing. I was extremely happy. Ana surprised me in the salon and brought flowers for in the bridesmaids hair. I paid for everyone and got 10% off. I hired Samuel Luna Flash Portfolio | Top Mexico Photographers | Mexico Destination Wedding Photographer Samuel Luna for day of photography. I wasn't impressed by the photographer the resort wanted to include in the package. Plus they are not with you for more than an hour or two. Sam was great!!! He is super nice, professional, on time! My husband loved working with him. I have not seen his photos yet as it takes 6 weeks to receive them. He was onsite from 4pm - 10pm. We took group photos before the ceremony to get them out of the way and take advantage of sunlight. NOTE sunset is around 7pm and it does not set over the beach so we took photos in the day light. The day of schedule was flawless. I created my own agenda with times to make sure the wedding party knew where to be and when. Don't expect Ana to do this for you. I made my own time for getting ready, photos, pre- wedding. Ana takes over when it is time to walk down the aisle. For specific things, tell her what you want, for example, I asked her to deliver flowers at a certain time to my room. We chose Dorremix for the DJ at our reception. I was worried bc my husband really likes professional international house music. We created a dance music playlist on our iPod for the DJ to work from. He started with our music and incorporated his own choice of songs. The song transitions were excellent. It was like being at a club. AWESOME! We also had our reception entrance songs on the iPod. The DJ was the announcer too. He introduced wedding party (the DJ sent me an excel doc to enter in song names and what is happening throughout the night like first dance, etc.). I made sure we didn't get behind on timing for speeches and first dance so we could have time for just dancing. The DJ also offers to bring a light-up dance floor, balloons, and glow bracelets, which are not our style. So we said no. But he did bring dry fireworks which ignite from the ground like up to 5 feet like a giant sparkler. Overall, very happy with result! (Music must end at 11pm due to beach laws). For the food, Ana gave us standard buffet menu to choose from. We did not like the food options so she let us pick from an ala carte menu of items across all the levels of silver, gold, etc. price points. We built a menu I was really happy with. The food was average for a buffet. Not bad but not like super impressive. We kept asking for more in the planning process, so don't undercut yourself. The night was wonderful! All my guests had a great time! You're in a beautiful location and all inclusive on top of that. Other small things to mention: - I made agendas for our guests on the computer. Ana printed and reception distribute to guests as they checked in. - I scheduled a welcome party in lobby on Friday night. Since drinks are free, I basically just told everyone to meet at the lobby bar. I paid for nothing extra for people just to meet in one place. - Half of my guests had travelers diarrhea from tap water in bathroom (brushing teeth or shower). Just use bottled water. You're in another country so it is hard to avoid 100%. Overall, just relax and trust Ana. She is extremely experienced and I'd recommend this resort to anyone!! Best decision ever to do destination! Ashly Ashly thank you so much for your review! It sounds wonderful! I can't wait for my wedding to come in October. I have a question for you. Did you write your own ceremony or did they have a script for you? Thanks!

Quote: Originally Posted by Laura22610 I'm not sure why she told him no. My reception was over at 10, so not too late, and she never approached me about paying for an extra hour of reception, which I probably would have done. The open bar for the 3 hours of reception is included with the package. So, I just had the 3 hours and didn't pay any extra. Maybe if you want extra, this has to be worked out prior to the day of the wedding. So, I am not sure about the prices of extra hours because I never looked into it (never even thought to ask)! That's good news! Thanks for the info Laura! You are such a big help

Quote: Originally Posted by Princess402 Whaaa, why would she tell him no I was wondering about this also, how strict the DJ would be to his 3 hours of service time. This brings me to another question though for you Laura (or any other brides who have been): did you get extra hours of open bar for your reception? I'm pretty much thinking I am going to need this but hate the idea of paying so much extra for it. Will Ana at least cut you a deal if you purchase a number of extra hours? I know at some resorts I researched that if you purchased more than one extra hour of open bar service then the charge was half price, or something like this. I just found in the pricing Ana sent me that additional open bar is $15.00 +15% service +10% tax per person per hour.

Quote: Originally Posted by SDbeachgirl I believe it was around $1250 for the 50 person catamaran for 3 hours and transportation to and from the resort. We had originally thought about going with the 40 person boat. There was only 35 of us, but we wanted to make sure everyone was comfortable and there was room for everyone to sit and/or walk around. I'm happy with our choice, though I'm sure the smaller one would have been just fine. You might be able to find something different for transportation but I felt more comfortable going with the same company...this way if anything happened, I was not held responsible. The price of the catamaran also included all you can drink and some dry snacks. I would remind your guests to grab something to eat prior to the cruise as the snacks don't go far. The sandwhiches at the coffee shop worked perfect for this! You could even have people bring a sandwhich with them, if they wanted. The person that I had been emailing regarding my reservations was VERY helpful and responsive to my emails. His name is Jose and his contact info is: [email protected] I highly recommend contacting him if you are interested in this. Thanks so much for the info. We wanted to do something like this for our guests, so this is very helpful!

Quote: Originally Posted by SDbeachgirl I forgot to mention that we ended up using Marina Cancun for our sunset catamaran cruise the night before the wedding. It was a blast!! I'm so glad we decided to do that instead of a rehearsal dinner. It was a real treat for our guests. If you have the budget, I would recommend it. We also went through them to charter the transportation and they provided a really nice comfy bus. It was almost like a party bus because we all had drinks in hand from the lobby bar. Just a really fun night! I was also thinking of dong this instead of a rehearsal dinner. Do you mind me asking how much it was and how many people you had? Thanks so much!

Quote: Originally Posted by rdsjcr What color did he get? Do you have a picture? we did the chocolate linen pants for the guys and ivory shirts. The shirts aren't button down though, they are just open at the collar. My finance is just wearing all ivory. My dress isn't white it is ivory and the ivory matched my dress perfectly. I don't have a picture, but I thought they were okay. if you go on the website under men and then under linen shirts, we chose the Majorca shirt. I ordered 3 different shirts and they all liked this one the best. They do have a button down shirt on there in white.

Quote: Originally Posted by rdsjcr Hey ladies! I want my groomsmen (and groom) to wear white button down shirts and khaki linen pants. I tried to order the khaki linen pants online (from weddingtropics.com and they are temporarily out of stock for like 2 months. The only other place I know (which I cannot remember right now - they are not as great)... any help? JCREW maybe?? thanks!! We got ours form islandimporter.com Maybe they will have what you are looking for.